Astrid's Troubles With Caves
by GuardianDragon98
Summary: A story for crafordbrian17. A little incident with some territorial Night Terrors leaves Astrid in a tight spot - literally.


**Story request from** crafordbrian17

 **NOTE: I DO NOT OWN HTTYD!**

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 **Astrid's Troubles with Caves**

"Note to self: Cut back on the almond rolls during breakfast…" Astrid sighed, rubbing her belly as she walked through a small canyon on solo patrol.

Astrid frowned as she strode through the desolate canyon. Was it her imagination or were her legs _jiggling_? Rubbing her hands on her thighs, Astrid sighed upon feeling how they had gained a full pinch worth of fleshiness.

She blamed it on her breakfast. A side of salmon, two eggs, and a basket of sweet almond rolls – great eats to start the day, but really packed on the pounds for her. It didn't help matters that, ever since moving to Dragon's Edge, she needed more calories every day which meant that she needed to eat more.

' _I'll need to upsize my workouts for a week to get rid of all this extra weight…'_ thought Astrid. At least nobody was commenting on her weight. If anything, the rest of the riders, herself included, were noticing how much Hiccup had changed in the last three years. Puberty had hit the Pride of Berk like a Rumblehorn's headbutt and the changes had been unexpectedly good.

Astrid smiled to herself, remembering the first time she noticed Hiccup's growth spurt. The one-legged Night Fury rider had been going on about some new islets he and Toothless had discovered and had looked up, like he always did whenever he wanted to talk to her, only to look down and realize that he was now taller than Astrid. His dumbstruck facial expression had sent her into a fit of giggles, especially when she commented, "Took you long enough to see the difference, dragon boy." Making said dragon boy blush like crazy.

Astrid's musings were interrupted by the sound of fluttering wings. Looking over her shoulder, the blonde ax wielder paled.

Night Terrors.

Out in the daylight.

Flying straight towards her.

"Oh, for the love of Thor…" Astrid muttered and began to run, cursing the heaviness of her body, as she unstrapped her axe from her back. Every time a Night Terror got too close, she swung the flat side of her axe.

Stormfly was too far away to hear her dragon call. Praying for a miracle, Astrid ran and ran until…

Yes! Thank you, Odin! A cave! She sprinted to the cave as fast as her legs could take her then skidded to a stop. "Are you kidding me?!" Astrid exclaimed as she beheld the miniscule hole in the wall. It was around 15 inches wide and 10 inches tall, just wide enough to fit her if she crawled in on her hands and knees. Bringing along her trusty axe was out of the question.

The angry shrieking of Night Terrors snapped Astrid out of her frustrated state. Reluctantly, she tossed her axe aside and got down on all fours and frantically began to crawl through the opening.

"Damn it!" she cursed as her hips got stuck, her hips eclipsing the entire opening by two inches. She tried to wriggle free, getting even more stuck in the process. To anyone passing by, she must have looked ridiculous, with her lower torso sticking out of a hole in the ground like an ass.

After this, she was _definitely_ going on a diet!

"Hhhnnnngggh…! Nnnnnggghhh! Come on, come on, come on…!" Astrid grunted, moving her hips from side to side in an attempt to get them through the tight squeeze. A light nip at her rear alerted her that the Night Terrors were now right behind her.

"Get. Away!" Astrid snarled, her right leg kicking out from behind her, an indignant shriek sounding out. "Of all the choices available during breakfast this morning, I just _had_ to go for the heavy stuff!" she scolded herself.

"Okay, Astrid. Get it together…" Sighing, Astrid held her breath and sucked in her gut and clawed at the cold dirt until her lower half followed her upper torso inside with a soft _pop!_

Panting, Astrid allowed herself a brief moment of respite and just lied on the cave floor until the adrenaline drained from her body. "Oh great… Barely enough wiggle room in here," she grumbled once her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

The cave was hardly the definition of comfortable. There was just enough room for her to sit up and turn around with her knees drawn up to her chest. Astrid watched the Night Terrors surround the cave. The dragons chittered to each other and looked into the cave, their eyes glowing, before looking at each other and chittering again. Almost as if they were having a debate on whether to attack Astrid in her cramped hiding place or to leave her be.

"Take your time. No hurry," Astrid muttered sarcastically to herself. Her stomach was now aching, the unexpected exertion playing havoc on her digestive system.

"Next time, I'm having oatmeal for breakfast…" she rubbed her slightly bloated belly and watched the Night Terrors convening at the mouth of the cave.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pesky territorial dragons left.

"Thank Thor…" Astrid breathed out, making a mental note to find Smidvarg and inform him of his flock mates' shenanigans.

Now she had to get out of her cramped prison.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Astrid got down on her hands and knees. "Suck in your gut, Hofferson," she reminded herself and slowly crawled through the opening. Just as her head and shoulders and arms got out, Astrid felt the familiar squeezing around her hips and groaned.

She was stuck, _again._

"Thor, if this is your way of telling me to stop pigging out, message received!" Astrid shouted testily to the skies.

The struggle to get out lasted longer than when she entered the cave. "Nnnnnggghhh! Gaaaaahhhh! Hnnnngggghhh!" Astrid growled, hands scrabbling at the dirt as she tried to free herself. After what seemed like an eternity, which only lasted about 30 minutes, Astrid managed to pry her lower torso out of the cave.

"Thank Odin…" she breathed out, grabbing her axe and leaving the canyon, keeping an eye out for Night Terrors.

The next morning, like she promised herself, Astrid only ate one bowl of oatmeal before heading out to the forest to work out.

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 **Bit of a step out of my comfort zone as I never write about characters having trouble with weight or their bodies in general. But I suppose taking this request was good practice for a new one-shot I'll be adding to "The Little Things They Don't Know About Us" in the future.**

 **Spoiler Alert: Zen's gonna help our favorite chubby dragon geek, Fishlegs, lose some weight ;)**

 **Regarding me taking requests, please don't be offended if I refuse sometimes. I'm gonna be pretty busy with arranging my re-enrollment in college and my college thesis.**

 **-GuardianDragon98**


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